Chacoan Peccary

The Chacoan Peccary (Catagonus wagneri), is the closest living relative to the extinct genus Platygonus. It is found in the dry shrub habitat or Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina and southern Brazil. The Chacoan peccary has the unusual distinction of having been first described based on fossils and was originally thought to be only an extinct species. In 1975 the animal was discovered to still be alive and well in the Chaco region of Paraguay. The species was well known to the native people, but it took a while for scientists to rediscover its existence.